Technical Skills Early Career Goals 6 Benchmark best practices 6 Strive always for continuous process improvement 6 Constantly look for ways to strengthen your SKA (skills, knowledge, and abilities) in your chosen discipline 6 Identify the critical technical skills that will help drive your career 6 Be an early tester of new technology, and champion its introduction at work 6 Look for opportunities to teach others in an effort to strengthen your understanding and conceptualization of emerging technologies Administration/Operational Support Goals 6 Dedicate yourself to honing your task, time, and computer skills 6 Never underestimate the value of developing the soft skills of influ- encing and persuading others 6 Carefully organize technical presentations for maximum comprehen- sion 6 Familiarize yourself quickly with your organization's technology, terminology, and technical challenges 6 Avoid burnout from information overload by prioritizing your tasks and always looking to understand the bigger picture 6 Leverage your advanced technical skills by creating metrics and analytics that drive your company's human capital strategy 6 Develop a consistent methodology for diagnosing repetitive prob- lems 113 American Management Association · www.amanet.org